Most people don’t understand the difference between affect and effect. Yet in our modern workplaces the difference is crucial to overcoming the inability of people to connect and enjoy working together.

Affect has always been considered less important than effect, simply because effect (the result) has been easier to measure. It makes individuals think they must accept full responsibility for the way they feel and think, without any entity that directly affected them being held accountable.

The effects of this are startling. Companies that address the ways they affect their employees are succeeding. Companies that ignore it are imploding. The Age of Affect explores how business affects people, drawing on the author’s experiences as a practicing artist and owner of two businesses, as well as the experiences of fifteen of his peers.